Five-year Bible reading plan for 29 June 2022

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

Matthew, Chapter 13, verses 47-58

⁴⁷ of the draw net cast into the sea, ⁵³ and how Christ is contemned of his own countrymen

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

⁴⁸Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

⁴⁹So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

⁵⁰And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

⁵²Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

⁵³And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

⁵⁴And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

⁵⁷And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

⁵⁸And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Read more:Matthew, Chapter 14

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13

13:52 Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven - That is, every duly prepared preacher of the Gospel has a treasure of Divine knowledge, out of which he is able to bring forth all sorts of instructions. The word treasure signifies any collection of things whatsoever, and the places where such collections are kept.

13:53 He departed thence - He crossed the lake from Capernaum: and came once more into his own country - Nazareth: but with no better success than he had had there before.

13:54 Whence hath HE - Many texts are not understood, for want of knowing the proper emphasis; and others are utterly misunderstood, by placing the emphasis wrong. To prevent this in some measure, the emphatical words are here printed in capital letters. Mar 6:1; Luk 4:16, Luk 4:22.

13:55 The carpenter's son - The Greek, word means, one that works either in wood, iron, or stone. His brethren - Our kinsmen. They were the sons of Mary, sister to the virgin, and wife of Cleophas or Alpheus. James - Styled by St. Paul also, the Lord's brother, Gal 1:19.Simon - Surnamed the Canaanite.

13:57 They were offended at him - They looked on him as a mean, ignoble man, not worthy to be regarded. Joh 4:44; Luk 7:23.

13:58 He wrought not many mighty works, because of their unbelief - And the reason why many mighty works are not wrought now,is not, that the faith is not every where planted; but, that unbelief every where prevails.

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NOTES

The rejection of a prophet in his own country is evidently a typical situation: even Jesus Himself faced it during His earthly ministry. The reasons for it are described quite transparently in the Gospel account: paradoxically, in his own country a servant of God is known too well for people to...

The rejection of a prophet in his own country is evidently a typical situation: even Jesus Himself faced it during His earthly ministry. The reasons for it are described quite transparently in the Gospel account: paradoxically, in his own country a servant of God is known too well for people to recognize him as a servant of God.

Of course, if Jesus had been officially recognized, the attitude toward Him in His own country would have been different: as usually happens in such cases, people would have been proud of Him and regarded Him as a local celebrity. But the point is that they had to discern the Man of God in Jesus for themselves, without prompts or directions “from above.” Such recognition would have brought no public benefit to Jesus' hometown or the surrounding areas.

In such a situation, other factors come into play, factors connected not with public opinion but with the characteristics of fallen human nature. A fallen person is generally extremely reluctant to acknowledge another as better than himself, especially when such an acknowledgment brings him no benefit. It is not merely that this acknowledgment entails certain practical consequences—for example, privileges of one kind or another due to the better person; in Jesus' case, in particular, there was nothing of the sort. The point is the psychological and spiritual discomfort that such an acknowledgment causes a fallen person. For then he would also have to admit that there is an alternative in the world to the way of life so familiar to fallen human nature. And although this alternative seems to be “not of this world,” here before their very eyes stands the One who became its living embodiment. What can be said to that? Nothing, perhaps, except to refuse to take Him seriously.

And how can one do that? The easiest way is to brush Him aside, fail to notice the obvious, and disbelieve. Memory and reason then come to the rescue: what kind of prophet could He be, much less the Messiah? We have known Him since childhood; He is no Messiah and no prophet. We know all His relatives; He is one of us through and through—what kind of Messiah could He possibly be? It is laughable even to say it... And beneath all this one hears: come now, He is not different at all, He is just like us. Let Him tell others about the Kingdom, show miracles to others, present Himself to others as either a prophet or the Messiah; He cannot fool us, for we know Him through and through.

And the most terrible thing about this position is not even that those who hold it are unprepared to see the Messiah in the Messiah. The most terrible thing is that they will never see the Kingdom either, for it too is different. Not of this world.

In ancient times, the end of world history drew the attention of both the Church and pagans like a magnet. In our own time, by contrast, a kind of tacit convention has arisen, and speaking about it has become somewhat improper. The ancients expected that...

In ancient times, the end of world history drew the attention of both the Church and pagans like a magnet. In our own time, by contrast, a kind of tacit convention has arisen, and speaking about it has become somewhat improper. The ancients expected the end to come any day, while we prefer to pretend it will never come. So will it be tomorrow or never?

When the end will come matters only if you are concerned about whether you will have time to prepare for it. Subconsciously we calculate that for a while we can live as we please and then still have time to prepare for the end of the world. During exams, for example, you calculate: there are four days until the next exam, so you can spend two days having fun, one day recovering, and one day reading the textbook. Whether you expect the end of the world very soon or not at all soon is only a quantitative difference, not a qualitative one.

Jesus' words about the last day mostly lie outside this perspective. He emphasizes only that the heavenly Father alone knows that day and hour. The Gospel seeks to bring something else home to our hearts. The essence of what happens at the end, at the Last Judgment, is separation. In today's reading the Lord Jesus says: “and shall sever the wicked from among the just.” The Greek ἀφορίζω, aphorizō, means to separate, set boundaries, define. As He said in the parable of the wheat and the tares, both are left to grow together until the day of harvest, when they will be separated.

From a practical standpoint, what matters for us is this. On the last day the separation, the distinction between the righteous and the wicked—Greek πονηρός, ponēros, one who causes much trouble, bad—will occur as a matter of fact, and it is not clear that our opinions and wishes will be taken into account. But today we can choose on which side of that boundary we will stand. By choosing to trust Jesus today, we enter the day that follows the last, for “he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

In the Gospel the possibility of a miracle is often connected with the faith of the person or people who await or ask for that miracle. It was the same in pre-Christian times: God revealed them according to the faith of those awaiting, or not awaiting, a miracle. If God’s action was too obvious...

In the Gospel the possibility of a miracle is often connected with the faith of the person or people who await or ask for that miracle. It was the same in pre-Christian times: God revealed them according to the faith of those awaiting, or not awaiting, a miracle. If God’s action was too obvious, outwardly it always looked in such a way that, if one wished, everything could be explained by natural causes.

Christ’s miracles were at times more visible and obvious, but He always performed them for specific people who trusted Him and expected help from Him. For the rest, who became involuntary witnesses of what was happening, there remained only to accept the situation as it was. Of course, much in this case is explained by the fact that God is unobtrusive. He will not drag a person to Himself by force, striking his imagination with supernatural phenomena. For God wants a person to commune with Him out of love, not out of fear or self-interest. Therefore the Savior does not drag anyone into the Kingdom by miracles.

But when the matter concerns the Kingdom, it is important to take something else into account. The Kingdom is entirely permeated with God’s light and God’s breath; they are its nature, or more precisely, what in the Kingdom takes the place of the nature of our world. But the Kingdom also has its own structure. A structure formed by the relationships of its inhabitants: their relationships with God, with Christ, and with one another. And the relationship of the Savior Himself with His heavenly Father is the foundation of the Kingdom, its chief spiritual support.

And all relationships in the Kingdom can be only and exclusively voluntary. Here no deceit, no ambiguity, no half-said things are possible. Any unwillingness to see Jesus, any unwillingness to commune with Him, places a person outside the Kingdom. For all the Savior’s miracles are nothing other than the manifestation of the Kingdom, its power, its breath.

It is no surprise that where there is no trust in Jesus, there is neither the Kingdom nor miracles. It is not that they are impossible there; they are simply meaningless. One cannot be made loving by force, and to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom to someone who does not want it means in effect to compel a person toward something to which compulsion is completely impossible. Jesus can only leave, giving those who refuse to trust Him over to their own fate. In the end, it is their choice, to which they have every right.

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